Chapter 69: Picking Up a Huge Leak

It is no wonder Li Yu thinks this way; after all, in just a few short days, he has encountered a series of sudden disasters.

The key is that before he arrived, everything had been peaceful for many years.

Before Li Yu could make sense of it, two fireballs crashed to the ground with a boom.

There were two more violent explosions, but the difference was that before the smuggling airship blew apart, seven or eight figures had already detached themselves in mid-air.

Among them were the three half-mechanical evil cultivators, as well as five stowaways, including Li Yu.

Each used their own methods to avoid the fate of perishing along with the smuggling airship.

Li Yu did not even have time to take any elixir before Hongdou, who had reverted to her human form, scooped him up and leaped out, landing on the ground with absolute stability.

And not far in front of him was the chaotic scene of the accident.

Accompanied by the sound of cold mist being torn apart, the others also landed, scattering in different directions around the two mechanical airships and the tower ship.

At this moment, no one cared about Li Yu or the mechanical maid behind him.

All the "survivors" were staring at the much larger mechanical tower ship; it was severely damaged, but unique crimson emblems, patterned like some kind of nest, could be seen everywhere.

Because of the crash, the cabins were wide open, revealing a large quantity of treasures and curiosities inside.

Whether it was the war puppets that looked incredibly exquisite, the limbs of some mechanical colossus, or the flesh and blood of extraordinary creatures... even someone who was not a cultivator could see how rare and precious they were.

Subsequently, the eight pairs of eyes turned to look at the eerie corpses in the tower ship.

Almost every one of them, like the three who managed the smuggling, had undergone flesh-and-mechanical modification and wore a uniform marked with that same crimson nest pattern.

However, they all seemed to be dead; besides being almost all dismembered, they had also suffered from some kind of "eerie contamination."

Not only were their mechanical prosthetics covered in rust, but their remaining flesh and blood were also covered in strange patches resembling red rust, and these patches were even slowly spreading.

"A transport ship from the Southern District overlord, the Sacred Nest?"

"Attacked in the Forbidden Land, crashed by accident, and by such a coincidence, collided with a smuggling ship?"

While Li Yu and the four other survivors were still making guesses based on the accident scene.

The three half-mechanical evil cultivators who clearly had ties to the Sacred Nest had expressions that turned extremely ugly, as if they had realized something.

And the next movement became the final straw that broke them.

The cockpit of the tower ship, which had already fallen apart, suddenly erupted with a burst of red light, sweeping everyone present into its range.

A shrill siren and a warning mechanical voice rang out:

"Beep, beep, beep!"

"Warning, warning. Transport Ship No. 115 has crashed accidentally. Intruders detected at the scene."

"Relevant clauses triggered. Commencing activation of the blood cores within all Forbidden Guards to eliminate all intruders."

"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."

When these sounds rang out, all the corpses in the tower ship shuddered, and then streams of crimson flames emerged, accompanied by the pervasive, acrid stench of burnt machine oil.

All the corpses opened their eyes in unison.

Whether they were mechanical prosthetic eyes or original flesh-and-blood eyeballs, there was no emotion in them, only a cold indifference toward all life.

Following the countdown, they seemed to collectively transform into "mechanical zombies," crawling and wriggling as they quickly reassembled their mangled limbs.

This scene unfolded!

The three half-mechanical evil cultivators could no longer hold back; after exchanging a glance, they immediately rushed into the cabin to start looting those treasures and curiosities.

At the same time, the leader of the three mechanical evil cultivators took out some kind of offering incense and lit it directly inside the cabin.

After doing so, in order to drag Li Yu and the other four into the mess to share the pressure, the three of them immediately shouted quickly:

"Don't hesitate, everyone grab the treasures and then run for your lives."

"This ship is a smuggling vessel under the [Sacred Nest]. Judging by these mechanical curiosities, the Sacred Nest is clearly in deep collusion with the Heavenly Craft Sect."

"These things responsible for the escort are not normal cultivators, but Sacred Blood Forbidden Guards implanted with various mechanical programs."

"When they were alive, they had intelligence, could negotiate, and had combat power equivalent to a Sequence 7 battle puppet."

"Now that they are dead, they are burning their blood cores to squeeze out the last bit of power. Once used, they cannot even be repaired; they will only execute the orders given by that damn artificial intelligence. Their combat power cannot compare to when they were alive, but they are equally troublesome. They can slaughter ordinary Sequence 8s, and their bodies are indestructible. If you get entangled by them, you will surely die once the people from the Sacred Nest receive the news and arrive."

"We have some connections to the Sacred Nest, but we are all just small ants on the outer layer. Having accidentally glimpsed secrets of this level, even if we could negotiate, we wouldn't escape the fate of being silenced."

"Damn it, what is this? I've been running this for so many years without a single accident, how did we run into such a deadly disaster today..."

"Quick, take whatever you can. The incense I just lit is [Savage Incense], which can attract some wild folk in this tundra to come and snatch some curiosities and treasures, helping us share the pressure."

Before the three spoke.

The other four survivors had actually already subconsciously started grabbing things.

They were all shameless evil cultivators; who would miss such an opportunity to pick up scraps?

Once the three spoke, Li Yu cursed inwardly, but he had no other choice; the wood was already carved into a boat, and the accident had already occurred.

He was at the scene and had already been scanned as an intruder by the artificial intelligence.

What else could he do?

Either turn around and run empty-handed now,

or run after joining the looting.

Once the countdown ended, that large number of so-called Sacred Blood Forbidden Guards would all transform into mechanical zombies and start hunting them down.

Li Yu subconsciously wanted to choose the first option!

After all, the sooner he ran, the more hope he had of surviving.

But in an instant, he stared at the cabin full of various exquisite mechanical curiosities.

A flash of inspiration hit his mind, and he immediately turned his head to instruct his maid: "Go grab them!"

"Only the most precious and portable curiosities under your permission scan. I'll give you three breaths, then we run for our lives immediately."

"Understood, Master!"

Hongdou was as obedient as ever.

As Li Yu's voice fell, she flashed into the cabin.

The gemstone in the center of her forehead emitted a dazzling red light, scanning all the curiosities and treasures in the blink of an eye.

Then, before the others—including the three mechanical evil cultivators—could react.

She rushed directly to the deepest part, pushed aside the precious battle puppets and the flesh of extraordinary creatures, and pulled out a mechanical box with an extremely exquisite and complex exterior from who knows where.

The next moment, she returned to Li Yu's side.

Time taken: two breaths.

"Go!"

=9+Shu_ba

"We're fleeing."

Li Yu did not look at the others at all, nor did he glance again at the still-vast quantity of curiosities and treasures.

Together with his mechanical maid, he fled toward the depths of the Ten Thousand Eerie Tundra, seemingly in a panic.

He moved the fastest; despite starting late, he vanished in the blink of an eye.

However, because he only took such a small amount of things and because of his escape route, he was immediately mocked by the others:

"That idiot, fleeing into the tundra—he'd be better off dying at the hands of these mechanical zombies."

"Truly a big idiot!"

"In such a rush to flee, he didn't even remember he still has a [Spirit Energy Copper Core] inside his body?"

"The three of you, if you don't help us take it out now, then we might as well perish together right here."

The three mechanical evil cultivators, who had also chosen their curiosities and treasures and were about to escape.

Before their bodies could move, they had already been tacitly surrounded by the other four.

Once that sentence was uttered, the three's little scheme was shattered.

That's right!

The three had intentionally not mentioned the Spirit Energy Copper Core to keep an ace up their sleeve.

If these stowaways died afterward, so be it; if they were lucky enough to survive, they could still track them down to silence them and loot their corpses.

The plan was well-calculated: let them share the pursuit and let them be their treasure porters.

Unfortunately, the four surviving evil cultivators were all veteran Sequence 8s, cunning old hands; such a simple and crude conspiracy was seen through in a blink.

Seeing that the countdown was about to hit zero, a standoff was impossible.

The three exchanged glances and had no choice but to abandon their original plan, quickly retrieving the copper cores from the four people's bodies.

By this time, a dozen "mechanical zombies," burning with blood flames and pieced together from twisted flesh and terrifying machinery, had fully assembled and seemed to have already been assigned targets by the artificial intelligence.

Beams of red light locked onto the intruders one by one.

Each person was assigned at least two mechanical zombies.

But before these blood-flame zombies could act, suddenly, black-furred wild folk rushed out of the cold mist, following the scent into the cabin.

This turn of events immediately disrupted the zombies' pursuit.

The seven people chuckled and turned to flee toward the direction of Wanfu City.

And before the three mechanical evil cultivators set off, they glanced at the direction Li Yu had fled in and couldn't help but offer a blessing:

"Hope that kid survives!"

"That way, when we find him later and slaughter him, we can still recover some of our losses."

Ten Thousand Eerie Tundra, amidst the cold mist.

Two fleeing figures slowed down from their fast pace; on the way, having received Li Yu's order, Hongdou's mechanical voice spoke in succession:

"Enabling all permission modules, destroying [Spirit Energy Copper Core]... Destroyed!"

"Scanning the accidentally acquired mechanical treasure chest... beep, beep, beep... four psionic trackers detected... destroy them?"

"Destroyed!"

As soon as Hong Dou finished speaking, four crackling electrical sounds simultaneously emanated from the mechanical chest she was carrying in her hand.

This scene did not seem to exceed Li Yu's expectations.

The reason he did not flee with those seven people was precisely because he had guessed: "Since even those half-mechanical evil cultivators possess tracking curios, how could the smuggling ships under the Sacred Nest, which are far superior to them, not have any?"

Those people were blinded by greed and had actually overlooked such a fatal detail.

Of course, it was also because they did not have a high-clearance Linglong maid like Hong Dou by their side.

After clearing away all potential trouble, Li Yu was just about to take Hong Dou and turn around to flee back to Wanfu City.

But at this very moment, a commotion suddenly erupted from behind; within the cold fog and upon the frozen earth, dozens of "wild folk" covered in black fur with faces resembling mountain demons or apes came charging toward the two of them, howling and each brandishing fierce-looking mechanical curios such as chainswords and power armor.

Behind them, two mechanical zombies were in hot pursuit.

PS: There will be another update tonight.

(End of this chapter)